OtterBox christened its newest downtown office building Tuesday, the latest in a string of acquisitions and construction projects for the rapidly growing maker of protective cases for mobile devices.

The five-story building at 331 Meldrum St., called Canyon Place, is billed as the largest nongovernmental office building built in downtown Fort Collins in the past 30 years. Its interior design is a mix of edgy industrial and sleek, high-tech design with a definite OtterBox flair.

The $6 million building was developed by Blue Ocean Enterprises, the company that runs Otter Products, maker of the popular OtterBox cases, and will house 250 OtterBox engineers and supply chain managers.

The fifth floor will remain vacant for now but even with that, the 54,000 square-foot building will get the company through "the rest of this year and probably next year," Blue Ocean CEO Jim Parke said. "Things are changing so quickly and there's so much growth that happens."

Five years ago, OtterBox had about 100 employees. Today, it has about 900, company officials said.

The building's open concept with wall-to-wall white boards and chalkboards and a different, bright color scheme on every floor encourages conversation and collaboration, said designer Laura Arledge, who led one of several building tours at an invitation-only reception. Employees will begin moving in April 8.

Canyon Place also will be home to the Red Table Cafe, a popular downtown eatery that closed its Linden Street location late last year.

Blue Ocean is working on another major project in Old Town, a six-story headquarters and possible parking garage fronted with shops on the southwest corner of Mountain Avenue and Meldrum Street. That project still is working its way through the planning process.

During the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, Nancy Richardson, wife of OtterBox founder Curt Richardson, thanked the company's key supporters "for being there for us."

OtterBox's presence in Old Town, along with Woodward Inc.'s expansion on Lincoln Avenue, is changing the face of employment downtown, said Josh Birks, the city's economic health adviser.

"Together the growth that will be happening over the next several years because of those businesses changes the nature of employment in downtown," Birks said. "Historically some of the biggest employers downtown were the county and city — the public sector. This is changing that significantly with a lot more private sector (investment)."

Other private companies such as smart grid energy solutions firm Spirae "recognize the value of downtown as a result of the investments by Woodward and OtterBox," he said. "I'm hopeful we will see more of that as they continue to grow."